Henri Cartier-Bresson held his 35mm Leica film camera through the bars of the fence here in Paris and captured this very famous image of a silhouetted man jumping off a ladder which looks like it had just fallen over (due to the ripples in the water). Cartier-Bresson must have seen the beautiful reflections in the water covered ground and decisively chosen to press the shutter at this exact moment. I think this image is absolutely stunning and deserves all of the praise that it gets and had gotten to this, since it was taken in 1932. I think this image is genius. Me, myself I love capturing reflections, disruptions of some kind, and normal scenes which look abstract in some way without the help of any type of editing, just pure natural magic.
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My eyes are first drawn to the woman's knee peering out from her skirt, then move diagonally upwards to her shirt and the mans elbow angled across it. My attention is then drawn to their faces - which are so closely and intimately touching. These two people look worn and in love, worn because they are asleep/partially asleep (both slumped over) and in love because of the intertwining nature of their bodies. This image seems as if it was staged or set up, however I know from researching Cartier-Bresson that he would have looked at these two and instantly seen a photograph - the golden triangle if you will. I love the style of this image and the closeness of the two bodies. If their eyes (or just one persons eyes) were open, the whole image would be different - more sinister - as if the mans intentions were to harm the woman because his arm is so tightly drawn around her neck.
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Without the sunbeam creating a warm distortion/abstraction, I feel this image would be very boring indeed. I noticed how the glistening sunlight flooded in a stream across the railings towards me. The building is submerged in darkness, hidden behind the shadow of an opposing building.
The walk way creates an angular shape which interests my eye very much. There is many linear features in the composition of this photograph as the light was very strong this day (which was much appreciated). |
I made this image a couple of times, trying to get it symmetrical as possible. I sat the camera on top of the railing in order to create a unique perspective pointing directly between the blocks...disappearing into nothing. The triangular shaping separates the adjacent blocks. It causes a battle of composition between symmetry and asymmetry. The symmetry comes from the the 'triangle' and the asymmetry comes from the fact that on the left side of the images there are two figures and on the right side there is only two...and also the fact the buildings are slightly different. The left has more windows.
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The way the birds are flying so elegantly between the buildings and over Louis head is just awesome in my opinion. The shadow cuts across the whole image separating the lightness, transcended upwards, and the darker, harsh shadow enclosing the whole of the walk way, submerging it in darkness.
The swirling of the clouds above flows with the image...the curvature of the walkway and the sweeping motion of the birds. |
In my opinion, the reason these two photographs are placed adjacent to each other is that they contrast, but also link in the way that the left hand image goes from lightness and slowly transcends into unknowing darkness behind the door. The right hand image contrasts this in reverse; from darkness, transcending into unknowing lightness. They differ in the fact that the subject of the right image is a human silhouette walking through a doorway/opening and the subject of the left image IS the doorway/opening. I think it's interesting how both images are blurred, almost as if they're taken by accident. They're similar in many ways, however also differ tremendously at a quick glance. I like how there are interruptions made by shadow in the left image and interruptions made my light in the right hand image, which is again a reverse contrast. The diptych above presents the viewer with two very mysterious images, each slanted and surrounded by darkness.
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My first thought about why these two images have been presented together was that the girl on the left is dreaming about flying, just as the bird on the right is. However, I start to draw more and more similarities from these two images as I scan my eyes over the pages. Firstly, each image has a rectangle (one more enclosed than the other) of apparent lightness, disturbed by fluctuations of colour.
Doves are a symbol of purity, hope, love and a symbol of the Holy Spirit in Christian iconography. By contrast the girl on the right seems solemn and desolate. This fact I find quite interesting as the girl might be dreaming of hope and love...but who knows, these images may be paired just because they were taken sequentially or chosen at random. The contrast between the colourings (warm tones on the left, cool tones on the right) makes me beg the question of if the girl is actually solemn and desolate or if she is just sleeping? Pathetic fallacy may be in working here however the colours could even be contrasting to the mood of the subject. |
This image above was actually my first film photograph I took on my day out. It is definitely my overall best image because of how the subjects fill the page corner to corner. All the different textures and lines excite me greatly. I knew that when I pressed the shutter it would be a great image - even though I couldn't see it directly afterwards .
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I decided to compose this image with the film camera sitting happily on the bench. I wanted to see how the curvature of the seat looked up close and personal. I love the solitude and the isolation of the 'man' (statue) because the city looks still and lonely - a rarity in central London. I love the contrast of the 'mans' old fashioned bowler hat with the modern architecture which silently sits behind him.
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